Los Angeles to vote on mandatory condoms in porn films

A California-based AIDS organization is one step closer to getting a measure on the June election ballot that would require porn actors to wear condoms while filming in Los Angeles.

CNN reports, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation received notice on Dec. 23 the measure would be allowed on the ballot in the upcoming election. The initiative was challenged by the L.A. City Attorney, who claimed city residents have no legal authority to adopt the proposed measure even if it were on a ballot because it is the state that regulates the use of condoms on porn sets not the city.

In an email obtained by the New York Times, the deputy city attorney wrote the city could legally restrict the production of pornographic movies without the use of condoms.

The City Attorney isn’t the only one who found issue with the measure. People in the porn industry blasted the measure saying the AIDS Healthcare Foundation spread misinformation about the porn industry and the measure will cause a decline in profits for the industry.

Currently, the use of condoms is only mandatory in homosexual pornographic videos. Actors performing in heterosexual pornography are required to get tested for AIDS and other STDs every 30 days. In August, the industry launched a new database for film producers and agents to access the test results of actors.

Not long after the database was launched an actor tested positive, shutting down the entire industry until all the actors screen partners were tested.

In 2009, a performer who tested positive sparked a legal battle between the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health and the AIM Medical Associates, an organization that tests erotic actors for STDs.